There is today an ever increasing need for conducting welding operations underwater. Examples include servicing and repair of dock facilities, drilling and operational platforms for recovering petroleum and gas from below sea beds, ship repair, the construction and repair of submerged pipes, and many others. To meet the need for training welders for making underwater welds for this highly specialized activity, I have previously proposed a portable instructional apparatus usable in the classroom by students in dry clothing as disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,011, granted Feb. 11, 1975. The initial attempts made to meet the needs of this new training technique represent very substantial improvements over prior techniques but is subject to certain deficiencies and shortcomings obviated by the present invention, as will become evident from the foregoing detailed description of my improved training welder.